WONDROUS EXPERIENCES IN INDIA

Taj Mahal It’s as monumentally beautiful as it looks in the pictures. Go at sunrise when the crowds are thinner and chances for communion are greater.

Goa Visit not only for the 100 kilometres of palm-lined coast but also for the World Heritage-listed churches and the laid-back Goans.

Ladakh This other-worldly landscape of high-altitude desert is punctuated with oases, roaring rivers and the monasteries of a flourishing Tibetan Buddhist culture.

Assam Kaziranga National Park is a refuge for more than a dozen threatened endemic species, including the onehorned rhinoceros and India’s only ape, the hoolock gibbon.

Delhi Pollution and traffic are at critical levels but the wonders of India’s capital persist: the Red Fort, the Qutb Minar complex, Rajpath and Lutyens’ Delhi, and the magical old city.

Train journeys The faint of heart can ride the rails in style aboard the Palace on Wheels or the Maharajas’ Express but for full Indian immersion, book a first- or second-class carriage on an intercity “express”.

Mumbai The country’s financial and cinematic powerhouse is a nonstop metropolis known as the New York City of Asia.

Kolkata The faded colonial capital has a nostalgic fondness for its Raj-era relics, private clubs and rattling trams. It’s also home to the irrepressible, friendly Bengali people.

Gujarat It’s an undiscovered treasury rich in tribal peoples, patinated palaces and outstanding cuisine. And it has the world’s last wild population of Asiatic lions.

Rajasthan Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Jaisalmer and Shekhawati... the desert state is a fairytale come true in glorious technicolour.